November 12, 2012

Student expelled in Sari

Samiyyeh Quli-nezhad ( سامیه قلی‌نژاد ), a Bahai from Sari who was studying applied mathematics, has been expelled from Behshahr University because of her Bahai Faith. She was in the first year of her study. The decision was conveyed to her in a telephone call from the university’s security office on November 10. She reports that the officials told her that the only way she could be allowed to return to the university was if she announced that she had become a Muslim. On November 11, her family went to the security office with the offer that she could conceal her real beliefs and become a Muslim under pressure, and conceal the reasons for her expulsion from other students. [The offer was apparently rejected.] Samiyyeh’s sister, Suna Quli-nezhad ( سونا قلی‌نژاد ) was also expelled from university because of her Bahai beliefs, in 2009, after one semester of study in herbal medicine.